Asian Inspirations

Discover the authentic in Asian cuisine food

Seafood

Vietnamese Summer Salad

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To Make Dressing
Combine all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake.

To Make Salad
Place noodles in a small heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 5 mins to soften. Drain well.
Reserve 12 prawns for garnish. Roughly chop remaining prawns. Combine vermicelli, chopped prawns, snow pea sprouts, carrot, cucumber, radish, peanuts, shredded mint and coriander in a bowl.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add rice paper sheets one at a time, cook until puffed and white. Drain on paper towel.
Add dressing to salad, toss gently to coat. Place rice paper sheets on a plate, fill with salad, top with reserved prawns, garnish with extra mint and coriander leaves.

Crab with Tamarind and Chilli (Cua Rang Muoi)

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To Prep
Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

To Cook
In a wok, heat oil over high heat and fry crab pieces in batches for 2-3mins. Remove and drain on paper towels.
In a clean wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil over high heat and sauté the chopped garlic for 15-20 secs. Add in onion and chilli, cook until onion is translucent.
Pour the sauce mixture into the wok and bring to boil, then simmer reduce the liquid slightly until sticky.
Add in the crab pieces and herbs, toss for 5 mins to coat evenly and heated through. Serve hot.

Salted Egg Yolk Crabs

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To Cook
Crack and beat egg in a medium sized bowl. Dip crab pieces in the egg, and then coat with tapioca starch.
Heat oil over high heat in deep wok to about 180°C. Deep-fry coated crab pieces for approximately 2 minutes or until just cooked through. Set aside.
Mash cooked salted egg yolks with a fork or in food processor. Set aside.
Remove deep friend oil from the wok and melt 2 tbsp butter in wok. Add curry leaves and chilli (if using) and saute for about 30 seconds. Then add sugar, chicken powder and evaporated milk.

Stir Fried Prawns in Tomato Sauce

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To Prep
Remove veins from the prawns. Snip off the pointed ends on the heads and tails. Trim off legs.

To Cook
In a large frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil, sauté onions until fragrant and soft. Season with ½ tsp salt and 2 tbsp tomato sauce, set aside.
Heat another 4 tbsp of oil and fry prawns over high heat. When prawns are cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, heat remaining 2 tbsp of oil and fry chopped spring onions and ginger until fragrant. Add in tomato sauce and cook until the sauce turns bright red. Add cooking wine, salt, sugar, cooked prawns and water, cook on low heat for about 2 mins.
Add in the onions and thicken with corn flour mixture. Lastly add sesame oil and chilli oil (optional). Stir well and transfer to serving plate. Garnish with spring onions and chilli, serve.

Ipoh Kuey Teow Soup (Kai Si Hor Fun)

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To Cook
Heat up 4 L of water in a large pot and bring to a boil over a high heat before adding the prawns and cooking for 2 mins. Remove the prawns from the pot and set aside.
In the same pot, add in the carcasses, pork bones, drumsticks and the white peppercorns. Return to a boil before reducing to a simmer and cooking for 2 hrs.
While the broth simmers, remove the heads from the prawns and cook the prawn heads in a pan with vegetable oil over a medium-high heat.
Continue to cook until the shell has become crispy and the oil has taken the colour of the prawn before removing from the heat and filtering the oil to use. Set aside.
When the drumsticks have become tender, remove them from the pot and remove the meat from the bone and set aside.
In a pot of water, blanch the chives until the begin to wilt before settings aside. Add the noodles in to the pot to cook as per the instruction before also removing from the pot and setting aside.
Add the salt in to the broth and mix until dissolved. Add more if necessary before removing from the heat to plate.

To Serve
In a serving bowl, add the noodles, chives, chicken drumstick meat and prawns and ladle the soup stock over it.
Finish by garnishing with fried shallots, sliced coriander and drizzle with the prawn oil.
Serve with a small bowl of the dipping sauce by combining the dipping sauce ingredients together and mixing.

Japanese Prawn Fritters with Shiso and Salted Plum (Prawn Shinjo-Age)

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To Prep
Process the prawn flesh together with salt and sake in a food processor until you get a smooth paste.
Transfer to a mixing bowl and mix in the grated mountain potato, onion, egg, and potato flour.
Mix the ingredients well then chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

To Cook
You’ll need an oil or candy thermometer for this as the frying temperature is key to getting a well fried fritter.
Heat up enough oil in a wok to 170°C. Shape the prawn mixture into balls and roll in the shiso leaves.
Drop the balls into the heated oil and deep-fry until the prawn is cooked all the way through. You’ll also want the shiso leaves to be crispy, but still retain their color.
Remove the seeds from the umeboshi and finely chop the flesh. Serve the prawn fritters with the chopped umeboshi flesh.

Thai Noodles with Pork (Pad Mama)

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To Cook
In a hot wok, add oil and then the garlic, stir until fragrant.
Add the pork, stir-fry until white. Add the egg, stir-fry until softly scrambled. Add the vegetables and mix well. Add the seasoning ingredients and stir-fry.
Add the noodles and chilli powder (optional), stir-fry for about 2 mins. Serve with lime and prawns, garnish with parsley.

Japanese California Rolls

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To Cook
While rice is hot, add sugar and rice vinegar and cool.
Place a sheet of seaweed along the bottom of the bamboo sushi mat.
Firmly press ¾ cup of rice onto the mat covering ⅔ of the seaweed. Place a line of mayonnaise along the rice about 2cm from the bottom.
Place on top of each other a row of crab sticks and avocado.
Placing both hands under the bottom of the mat at either end, proceed to roll up the seaweed ensuring the first full roll encloses all of the ingredients. Roll as tightly as possible.
Wrap in cling wrap and place in refrigerator for 15 mins before cutting. When slicing, use a very sharp knife, pierce the seaweed and then slice. Use a hot cloth to wipe the knife between slices.
Serve this Japanese California Rolls with a dish of soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

Three Friends Spring Onion Rolls (Tam Huu)

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To Prep
Combine pork with marinade ingredients and mix well. Marinade at least 5 mins. Set aside
Combine prawn with marinade ingredients and mix well. Marinade at least 5 mins. Set aside.
Combine all dipping sauce ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

To Cook
In a frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat and stir-fry pork for 2 mins. Add the prawns and stir-fry until cooked through. Add black pepper and stir well before turning off the heat.

To Assemble
For each strand of spring onion leaf, place mint and coriander on the green edge. Top with a piece of pork and prawn, and a slice of chilli, wrap around the group of ingredients with the rest of the spring onions and tuck in the end section.
Place on serving plate and serve with dipping sauce.

Tamarind Prawns (Goong Pad Makam)

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To Prep
Using a food processor, process the garlic, shallots, coriander stems, and Thai chillis into a rough paste.

To Cook
In a wok, heat some vegetable oil over medium high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, sear the shrimp on all sides until brown. Remove the shrimp from the wok and set aside.
Using fresh vegetable oil, sauté the herb paste over medium heat until fragrant and slightly brown.
Then add chicken stock, palm sugar, tamarind juice, and fish sauce. Increase the heat up to medium high and stir constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Cook the sauce and reduce it until it becomes a thick sauce that can coat the back of your spatula.
Toss in the shrimp and red and green capsicum to mix with the sauce. Finish cooking the shrimp if they are not already done.
Transfer to a serving plate and garnish generously with fried shallots, fried dried chillis and coriander leaves. Serve with a bowl of hot white rice.

Hot and Sour Fish Soup (Tom Klong Pla)

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To Cook
In a dry pot, heat the lemongrass, galangal and shallots over medium heat. When they start browning, add water and bring to boil for 5 mins. Add fish sauce and tamarind juice (adjust to taste).
Add fish and cook covered until done.
Add kaffir lime leaves, coriander, lime juice and chillies and cook for 1 min.
Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Mee Rebus

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To Prep the Gravy
Boil and mash the sweet potatoes, set aside.
Poach beef until cooked and cut into small pieces. Set aside.
Place in a blender dried shrimps, shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger and fermented soybeans. Add about ½ a cup of water and blend until fine.
In a large pot, heat up the oil and then add the blended paste, meat curry powder, and lemon grass stalks.
Sauté on medium heat until fragrant and oil begins to split. This should take 10-15 minutes.
Add about 2 cups of beef stock, and stir until combined.
Next, add the mashed sweet potatoes, cooked beef and palm sugar to the pot of gravy and mix well.
Slowly add more beef stock until the gravy has reached your desired consistency.
Bring to a boil and set aside.

To Prep the Noodles and Garnish
Separately, blanch yellow noodles and bean sprouts then set aside.
Pan-fry the bean curd until golden brown, and then cut into 2cm pieces.
Hard boil the eggs and cut into halves.

Final Assembly
In a bowl, portion out yellow egg noodles and bean sprouts.
Ladle gravy over noodles and bean sprouts to sufficiently cover the noodles.
Garnish with egg, bean curd, sliced chillies, fried shallots, Chinese celery, spring onion and calamansi lime.
Serve hot.